Originally Posted by
HEATHROW DIRECTOR
It has been mandatory to read back QNH since Pontius was a Pilot.....
Now you and I both know this is not exactly true
HD 
, it was certainly a while ago that it became the "norm" in some places to have to add the QNH when acknowledging the ATIS letter (what a pain!) ... but it was not that long ago in the general scheme of things that it was more succinct ... (i.e.
acknowledge receipt of Information X with aircraft type on first contact with XXXX Ground).
There is a certain logic in saying that, if you acknowledge the ATIS by letter, you are confirming that you have heard
all the contents of that version ... after all, we are all professionals, aren't we? You might argue that you should also "read back" the runway(s) in use from the ATIS as well, as if you were receiving a clearance, if you want to be really pedantic ... we don't because R/T is supposed to be concise ... so I have to say I have always thought that including the QNH with the ATIS acknowledgement is actually unnecessary time-wasting double-speak.
JD
